Recently, at the TED 2010 conference, Bill Gates spoke about his one wish: “Innovating to Zero.” Gates declared the need for “energy miracles.” These innovative miracles differ from other miracles like the personal computer and the Internet, in that there is a need to work at full speed to develop a solution to energy production with zero carbon dioxide emissions in a pretty tight timeline.   There are five technologies he highlights: carbon capture and storage, nuclear, wind, solar photovoltaic, and solar thermal.

One notable omission, in our opinion, is gasification.  While Gates does not mention biomass gasification or biofuels as part of the big five, it remains an important part of the energy solution. Biomass gasification is considered carbon neutral because the CO2 is biogenic in origin and sequestered as new trees and plants regrow.   Yes, biomass gasification faces some obstacles in widespread commercialization like Gates mentioned, however, it offers significant advantages as it is a reliable source of energy that does not require large scale capital investment or face intermittent production challenges.